Length of stay of tourists in cultural destination

Tourist's length of stay is the most discussed topic in the tourism demand. Tourist's length of stay provides the destination to reach level of high output for economically in terms of tourism expenditure. Accordingly, it is so crucial for destination managements by investigating the determinants of length of stay and so important to determine which factors impact length of stay. Previous studies concluded that economic factors impact directly length of stay. However, it has been known from the studies in recent years that socio-demographic characteristics of tourists, travel behaviors, travel motivations and destination attributes and image may influence the length of stay of tourists. In this context, the purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of tourist's length of stay spent his duration at least one night in Istanbul and to determine the role of destination management organizations. In order to reach the purpose of this study, it was reviewed the related literature and the determinants of tourist's length of stay was examined under internal and external factors. Internal and external factors of length of stay was determined for this study and then a questionnaire was applied to foreign tourists stayed at least one night in Istanbul at the airport. Also, a semi-structured in-depth interview was used to explore the role of destination management organization in the length of stay. Questionnaire deals with the measurement of internal and external factors of length of stay and cultural experience of tourists. In the data collection process, convenience sampling method was adopted and the sample size for this research was determined by 450. The questionnaires were used a direct face-to-face survey method by researcher owing to the higher response rates. In total 411 usable questionnaires were collected. For a semi-structured in-depth interview, purposeful sampling was adopted for this study and a total of 15 stake holders who are responsible for the destination management was selected for interview. As a result of this study, it is concluded that internal and external factors impact the tourist's length of stay at different level and results showed that findings are destination specific as it is stated previous studies. In addition, cultural elements influence the length of stay and increase this duration. Finally, the role of destination management organization in length of stay analyzed under two main headings (external destination marketing and internal destination development). Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed as well as limitations, and then suggestions for further research are provided.